Avery v Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages; Avery v NSW (Attorney General's Department)

(2010) 79 NSWLR 354; [2010] NSWCA 72

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Administrative Law
2. › Births, deaths and marriages registration
3. › Change of name
4. › Former names
5. › Whether shortened version of given names used on official documents constitutes a 'former name'
6. › Whether person can have two names simultaneously
7. › Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 (NSW), ss 16, 26, 32, 49
8. › Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Regulation 2008 (NSW), cl 8
1. Administrative Law
2. › Judicial review
3. › Mandamus
4. › Alternative remedies
5. › Whether prerogative relief refused where statutory review available but not invoked
1. Names
2. › Change of name
3. › Acquisition of name by reputation and usage
4. › Whether acquiescence in use of name conferred by another sufficient
5. › Whether abandonment of former name required
1. Statutory Interpretation
2. › Validity of acts done in departure from statutory requirements
3. › Whether departure invalidates change of name
4. › Project Blue Sky Inc v Australian Broadcasting Authority (1998) 194 CLR 355

Quick Take

A shortened version of a person's given names, used consistently on official documents such as a driver's licence and electoral roll, can constitute a separate 'name' and therefore a 'former name' that must be recorded upon a change of name under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Regulation 2008 (NSW). A person can have two names simultaneously. The scope of 'former names' depends on the legislative purpose of providing proof that two different names refer to the one person. Young JA dissented, holding that use of a shortened name without abandonment of the full name does not constitute a change of name.